Warwick Racecourse, Warwick on Saturday 26/02/1983 (Senior Ladies)

The fifty-first Senior Women's National Cross-Country Championships took place at Warwick Racecourse. The course was 5500 metres and consisted of one short and three long laps. 2807 entries had been received for the event with 630 for the senior women's race.

Chris Benning (Southampton & Eastleigh AC), Jane Furniss (Sheffield AC), Kath Carter (Sale Harriers), Chris Boxer (Aldershot, Farnham & District AC), Heather Beasley (Worcester AC), Julie Laughton (Derby Ladies AC), Julie Asgill (Stretford AC) and Anna Wittekind (Dartford Harriers) were the early leaders. Benning kept pushing the pace and at halfway the lead bunch were Chris Benning, Paula Fudge (Borough of Hounslow AC), Debbie Peel (Crawley AC), Chris Boxer and Jane Furniss. On the last lap Benning put in a surge and opened up a 5-metre lead. The runners had to negotiate through the tailenders towards the end of the race. Benning maintained her lead to the finish and won by 5 seconds from Furniss, with Chris Boxer third.

After the race, Chris Benning told Athletics Weekly "It's the first time I've concentrated at cross-country, but I felt I needed to after a couple of bad years on the track." Chris also commented that the course was boring and you needed to concentrate all the way.

Despite missing two of the counters (Hilary Hollick and Susan Lonsdale) that contributed to wins in the previous two years, Sale Harriers made it a hattrick of team victories with a 23-point victory over Sheffield AC. Third place went to Borough of Hounslow AC. Counters for Sale were Kath Carter (7th), Kath Binns (9th), Gillian Settle (49th) and Angela Deegan (50th).